On November 20, 2016 I put Exodus: Machine War: Book 3: Death From Above on Amazon. It is available at Amazon.US, Amazon.UK, and of course all of the other Amazon outlets. Like most books this year, this one took longer than usual to write, and I had to drop a lot of other projects just to have the energy to complete it, including my blog. I should be able to get back to bimonthly blog entries again, as well as ramp up my productivity again. The CPAP is doing wonders, and while I’m not back to one hundred percent, at least I am getting around better and even hitting the gym for an hour four days a week. Right now I am working on a fantasy I hope to sell to Baen, then I will start on book 5 of Refuge, since I haven’t put anything out in that series for almost two years. From there it will be back to another Empire at War book, then the second volume of Theocracy, followed by yet another Machine War book. I have big plans for 2017. I may be able to finish off Exodus: Empires at War, though I still think it will be completed in 2018. From there I will be looking to develop a new series, possibly one I’m titling Exodus: The Empire, which will go back to the time of the human Exodus from Earth, on to the establishment of the Dictatorship, on through the Kingdom, and further, to the Empire. Some of the stories hinted about in the Empire of War books will be filled in. After that I will have to find something else to keep me out of trouble and off the streets. I have also released Theocracy: Book 1 and Exodus: Empires at War: Book 11: Day of Infamy on Kindle Unlimited, for those waiting for those books to reach that sales outlet of Amazon. And now for an excerpt to Exodus: Machine War: Book 3: Death From Above.

“We’re lining up for the first pass, ma’am,” called out the Force Tactical Officer.

Vice Admiral Mara Montgomery nodded as she continued to study the tactical plot. There were almost three hundred ships ahead of her force, forty of what the humans thought of as Machine capital ships, ninety of their cruisers, and one hundred and sixty scouts. Montgomery was facing them with eight battleships, fifteen battlecruisers, thirty-eight light cruisers and eighty-one destroyers. In tonnage it was almost an equal fight. Her main advantage lay in the fact that all of her ships were capable of traveling through hyper VII, while the Machine vessels were at best able to get into VI. That gave her four times their pseudo-speed, and made her ships invulnerable to their attacks while she occupied the higher dimension. She could still launch missiles in VII, dropping them down to VI while they were still travelling slowly enough to make the transition, point three light.

Of course, while the enemy couldn’t strike at her ships from lower to higher hyper, she couldn’t fire back with her beam weapons as well, and her own missiles would still only be approaching at a suboptimal velocity unless launched from distance. If she wanted to use her lasers and particle beams against them she would have to move into hyper VI, which meant that all of her ships would have to get down to point three light. That caused another problem, since the enemy fleet was moving at well over point nine seven light, and her ships would quickly fall behind as they tried to accelerate at maximum rate to catch up. That was a losing proposition. Even if she could get up to that velocity, the radiation it would cause to sleet through her ships could be deadly. Or she could drop down to VI ahead of them and let the enemy move through her formation while she attacked, then jump back to VII to come back and get ahead of them again.

I could beat them that way, she thought, her agile mind using the data she had to plot a battle plan that would destroy the Machine fleet. She would also take a beating, but she thought she would still have a command, while the enemy wouldn’t. If that was the only thing she had to face, that was what she would do. Unfortunately, there were other vessels in that Machine force, three of them, in fact. And they were her major headache.

The planet killers had shown on the sensors well before the rest of the Machine vessels. At one hundred kilometers in diameter, and massing several trillion tons, they had to be the largest, most massive spaceships ever built. The Donut was much larger, but that giant station around a black hole didn’t move, with the exception of its orbital path. And it didn’t carry the weapons of the massive warships that seemed to be armed much like battleships in proportion to their mass. She didn’t even know how to hurt them. She had studied the holos of the attack by the force that had guarded the Klassek system and engaged a single one of the huge killers. And everything they had thrown at it had not been enough.

The analysts thought the planet killers had at least a kilometer of armor, maybe as much as five. Not even a missile strike would penetrate. One coming in at point nine five light might punch through, but the inside of the planet killer was most probably crammed with machinery that would absorb the blast. Their generators and antimatter stores were stored deep in the vessel, and standard missiles would not get through to them.

And I don’t have a convenient black hole to lure them into, thought the Admiral. One enterprising battlecruiser captain had done just that, and had tricked a planet killer into a close pass of a black hole. A couple of missiles preaccelerated through a wormhole had knocked the planet killer closer to the black hole, dropping it through the event horizon. She didn’t have anything that powerful. Hell, while she was in VII she couldn’t even use the one wormhole her force carried to send preaccelerated missiles into the things. And even worse for her, the planet killers carried huge graviton projectors that could drop a vessel in hyper back to normal space in a catastrophic translation. Which meant she had to keep her distance from the ships she most wanted to stop.

Moments later the message went out, both through short range com and grav pulse, and through the wormhole back to the Bolthole command center. She knew the ship commanders had already been briefed and cautioned, but she wanted to make sure they knew how important it was not to risk their vessels for no return.

“Beginning run,” called out the Force Tactical Officer. On the plot the first of the destroyer squadrons closed on the enemy, keeping their distance, well beyond the estimated range of the graviton beams. A second squadron moved up on the opposite side. All the ships were moving at point three light, able to drop missiles down into VI or lower if necessary.

“Launching, now.”

The plot blossomed with vector arrows leading away from the destroyers, immediately dropping into hyper VI and starting their acceleration toward the enemy ships at fifteen thousand gravities, well above their sustained rate. Sustained rate meant nothing in this engagement, since the missiles would strike within a minute of launch, or be gone.

“Enemy is starting to shift their formation, ma’am.”

That was what she had been afraid of. As long as the other ships had screened the planet killers she had a chance of whittling their force down. The graviton beams would also drop their own ships out of hyper, accomplishing Montgomery’s task for her. Now the screening ships were starting to shift inward, while the planet killers moved out, one to a side, the third staying put in the center, where it was equidistant from all sides of the formation, ready to move toward the next threatened area.

They didn’t get into place in time, and the first wave of missiles, almost three hundred weapons, came sweeping in from both sides. The screening vessels, mostly scouts, took them under fire with counter missiles and lasers. With over a hundred ships firing on the missiles most of the human weapons were taken out, only twenty-three making it through the defensive fire. They generated three hits, and two enemy ships disappeared from the plot, destroyed or damaged badly enough to drop them out of hyper.

“Well, that didn’t work so well,” said the Tactical Officer, earning a stare from his Admiral, the one who had planned the attack.

“It’s too late to change this run,” said Montgomery. “Continue the attack.” And we’ll try something different when we come back.

The next pair of squadrons hit, sending out the same number of missiles. They also generated a hit, killing one Machine ship. The group after that wasn’t so lucky, the planet killers in place and sending wide spread graviton beams out. All of the missiles dropped off the plot as they fell out of hyper, followed by one destroyer that had gotten too close.

“Was that ship within the predicted range of the beams?” asked Montgomery, getting up from her seat and storming over to the plot. The machines had so far lost three ships, she only one. But her ship had contained living breathing beings, sentients with their own hopes and dreams, now gone forever.

“It was not, ma’am,” replied the Tactical Officer. “They seem to have greater range than we thought.”

My friend Kevin Ikenberry has just published a new novel, and I thought I would put this information out there. I met Kevin at Superstars Writing Seminar in 2014. He was a Major in Army Space Command at that time, and has since been promoted to Lt. Colonel and retired from active service. He returned to superstars in 2015, and I decided at that time that we must have some of the same interests as we had both requested the same guest to sit with at the VIP dinner (Eric Flint in 2014, Toni Weisskopf in 2015. Last year I learned that he had been a armor company commander in Iraq before growing up (his own words) and entering Space Command. His book, Sleeper Protocol, can be purchased at Amazon, among other retailers. So, without further adieu, here is the interview that Kevin completed with Pete Aldin.

I first wrote Sleeper Protocol as a short story entitled “Walkabout.” It was about 8,000 words and focused on a particularly bleak scene where my characters “leave” civilization and enter the frontier that’s become the central United States. When I sat down to outline the book, I wrote an opening scene where the protagonist wakes up on the shores of Sydney Harbor at a place called Mrs. McQuarrie’s Chair. I spent three and a half weeks in Australia when I was seventeen and I tell people all the time that I left a piece of my heart there. Having this book begin and end in Australia just felt right, so to speak. As for experiences, there are a ton of them in this book that I’ve tried to write in. Living in Colorado and hiking frequently gave rise to a lot of the narrative. Near the end, the action takes place in Tennessee where I call home (even after not living there in almost twenty-five years.). Where the culmination of the journey comes together is at my family’s “ancestral” home. We call it “The Farm”and I remember tearing up the first time I wrote that scene and the following one as well. The concept of him piecing together his memory from experiences is the critical element to the story – so bringing a lot of my own experiences into his point of view was challenging, but a lot of fun.

2. Why are you a writer?

I can tell you that I am not one of those folks who say they wanted to be a writer their whole life. I wanted (and still would go tomorrow!) to be an astronaut. My decision to start writing science fiction in 2009 came, in large part, from my extensive background in space science education. Through teaching, I’ve been able to share my love for space with kids of all ages. Writing science fiction seemed like a natural progression of that love. The idea that I could write stories and potentially novels seemed very far out there when I started, but now I know that I enjoy telling stories and I can’t see not writing. When I first had a character start talking to me, I had no idea what to do other than start to write. With the help of a great instructor, I found great friends and mentors as I delved into writing. I’m glad that I did.

3. What was the greatest hurdle to overcome in completing this project?

I finished the original first draft of Sleeper Protocol in late 2013 and decided to let it sit in the drawer for a few months before I went back to the manuscript. After a rewrite pass in September 2013, I decided to focus on a couple of other projects with the intent that I would return to Sleeper Protocol in March 2014 for a final polish and submittal. That’s when life got in the way.

In February 2014, I nearly died from an infection that attacked the skin on my right leg, shut down my kidneys, and put my heart in serious condition. After ten days in the hospital, I went home for a prolonged at-home care period. This should have been a blessing – a writer always wants more time to write and I had all I could handle. The problem was that I couldn’t write. I could barely do anything besides look out the window and try to come to grips with what had happened. After a couple of weeks, I reached out to Clarkesworld editor Neil Clarke who survived a massive heart attack three and a half years ago. Neil’s friendship and advice helped me get back to writing. In May of 2014, I started that final polish on Sleeper Protocol for submittal. Without Neil’s counsel and my team of beta readers, I might not have been able to make that happen.

4. As a writer, with a full time job and a family, how do you manage to get the work done?

In all honesty, there are a lot of late nights. Being a night owl when it comes to writing is a good thing. After our kids go to bed, I have the chance to work on my writing. Some times are better than others, but it’s just a question of dedication. There are so many people who say, “I could write a book if I just had time.” My response to them is to get busy writing. The only way I’m able to tell stories is to sit down and get them out of my head. It’s a question of dedication and discipline. If the story matters that much to you, you’ll find a way to get it down on paper or into the computer. That’s what I focus on. If you really want to do something, nothing can stop you.

5. What tips from your road to publication can you offer other writers?

Sleeper Protocol received an offer from a different publisher before Red Adept Publishing signed it. I turned down that original contract because I’d taken the time to consult with mentors. My biggest tip to anyone who will listen is simply to reach out to someone else if you don’t understand something. I know it’s not easy to do so, but in my experience, I’ve never had someone that I reached out to completely reject me. Writers, as a unit, understand that we are all in this together and everyone I’ve ever approached is willing to share their experiences. In this particular case, I asked two NYT bestselling authors to review the contract because it didn’t seem right to me, and it wasn’t right. Because I was brave enough to reach out, and they took the time to look over a bad contract, I saved myself a lot of trouble. If you don’t know – ask. Ask me, ask some one in your writing group, post a question on social media – there are a lot of people who’ve learned their lessons who will make sure you don’t have to do the same.

6. With which of your characters do you most connect? Least connect?

Obviously, Kieran and I are very similar and while you might think that was very easy to write, there were times it was very difficult to put myself out of the equation and tell the story from the perspective of this character that is a lot like me but not me at the same time. Likewise, I can honestly tell you that writing from Berkeley’s perspective was very challenging. Connecting to my characters was really easy, mainly because they’d been talking to me for a couple of months before I started writing the original draft. All of them changed through the course of the drafts. Making connect to the reader is my greatest hope – I think I’ve done that.

7. What is your favorite book of 2015 and why?

This is such a difficult question because I am very behind on my reading lists. I will say this: the best two I’ve read so far are Clockwork Lives by Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart and The Martian by Andy Weir. Clockwork Lives is a beautiful sequel to the novel (and Rush album) Clockwork Angels. The attention to detail in the book is amazing, especially the print layout and design. It’s a beautiful book and a beautiful story.

The Martian is everything a space geek like me loves, and Mark Watney is a great character. Andy Weir’s ability to create a thrilling story around the actual science that will get humans to Mars (and live there) is astounding.

8. Favorite paragraph from Sleeper Protocol:

From Chapter Six

I landed in Perth after sunset, following an “in-flight delay for orbital debris mitigation,” whatever that meant. The bright side was that instead of circling out over the ocean or something, we flew three complete orbits around the Earth. Given what I remembered about my childhood and wanting to travel in space, I should have been thrilled. By my standards, or those from my time, I was an astronaut. The reality was that I dozed for most of the trip. The view of Earth from orbit met every expectation, but the tranquility of it lulled me to sleep after just a few minutes. Because of the late arrival, I caught the last maglev train to Esperance and stepped out of the terminus to a pitch- black night and torrential rain. The briny smell of the ocean floated on the strong breeze, and it made me smile. The lights of the modest town lay below me, down a slope of no more than a few hundred feet, and its warmth filled me. There were no buildings taller than a few stories and not much light compared to downtown Sydney, which was at once disconcerting and comforting. Lightning flashed out to sea and lit the rough, curving coastline for a split second. All of it was perfect. I wondered what it meant to feel so at peace in a place that I’d never seen in my life. I could be happy here. I walked in the rain without a jacket, and my coveralls were soaked through in a matter of minutes. Finding food and dry clothing would be high priorities eventually but not yet. The cool rain hammered my skin and washed the last bit of the Integration Center’s smell from my clothes.

9. What’s next for Kevin Ikenberry?

I’ve just concluded the first draft of Vendetta Protocol, the sequel to Sleeper Protocol. While I’m letting it rest, I’m gearing up for the release of my military science fiction novel Runs In The Family from Strigidae Publishing in the spring of 2016. I have another novel in discussions right now with my publisher. I’m working on a variety of projects and staying very busy. Hopefully, I’ll just keep on writing stories. That’s the plan.

As some of you may know from past posts, I put my first two books up on Amazon and Smashwords on December 31, 2011. The first eight months were not very impressive, as I believe I sold about forty eBooks during that time. Then I did the giveaway of The Deep Dark Well, to the tune of over 4,000 copies. Two months later I published Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1, and it started selling well. How well? Over a hundred copies in October, 872 in November, 1,976 in December and 3,088 in January. I released Exodus Book 2 in December, 2011, and sold 1,440 copies that first month. In January of 2012 I sold a total of 8,560 eBooks, and that was when I decided I would do this thing full time in the near future. By the middle of March, 2012 I quit my job and I was suddenly my own boss. So, four years after putting up those first two books, I have sold over 151,000 Ebooks, 1,500 paperbacks, and 4,300 audiobooks, for a grand total of almost 157,000 copies. Six of the Exodus books have hit number 1 in Space Opera or Military Scifi on Amazon.UK, and top 10 on Amazon.US, with one reaching number 2. My total Amazon reviews total over 2,200, with an overall average across all books of 4.6 stars. On Goodreads I have over 2,300 ratings, with a 4.09 star average (4.18 for the Exodus series). We won’t get into money, except to say that I am making a very comfortable midlist (old midlist that is to say) income. So, everything is going well. I would like to do even better. I think most writers would. With the averages of my ratings on Amazon and Goodreads I think I can attract a bigger audience. The trick is actually doing it.

On New Year’s Day I posted that I was going to try for 3K words a day. Then I came down with bronchitis, and have been lucky to average 2K. But I believe the 3K average will come when I’m feeling better. That comes out to about 1.095 million words for the year, or just about nine of the 120,000 word novels I tend to write. It will probably be more like 7 books, and the rest in short stories, blogs, whatever. I have other series in mind, things I would like to work on, but first I need to finish what I started. So, future plans?

Exodus is still the primary focus. I am up to book 9 of the main storyline now. Some have commented that it’s already too long and needs to be finished. The majority opinion is that I can’t do too many books, but I have to disagree with that as well. I am planning a total of twenty books in the main series. Exodus was envisioned as a long series about a grand scale war. Some have said it appears to be World War 2 in space, which it kind of is, but not completely. Being an epic war, I wanted it to have a grand sweep, with successes and failures, advances and retreats, all the things that make up a grand war. While technology advances on both sides, there are no miraculous superweapons that win it overnight. Twenty should get me there, and there will be at least three books in the main storyline in the coming year, with the first release planned for March. Machine War, the side series, is also doing well, though not in the same league as the main storyline. One of the reasons for releasing that series while the main one still progressing was to have continuity between the two lines, without one already having given away the game of the other. There will be at least one book in Machine War released in 2016, and a total of six in the series. I will also put out a book or two of Tales of the Empire, with the first due for release in about two weeks. I like these short story and novelette collections because not only are they fun to write, they are good practice for writing short fiction. There will be some Tales of the Empire standalone novels as well, covering the history of the Empire. I will also write book 5 of the Refuge series, closing in on the finish. I expect 6 books will complete it. This was a series I had great hopes for, but it just isn’t doing it. Maybe some time in the future I can restart it.

In two weeks I will be releasing the first book of the second Deep Dark Well trilogy. I wrote this book back in 2011, prior to releasing my first self pubbed work. I love the storyline, and it opens up an entirely new Universe with endless possibilities. I will probably release a book a year until the trilogy is finished, then see what happens. I have two short stories for invitation only anthologies I need to submit by January 31st, and another two for additional invitation only anthologies in May. And at least one, maybe two, novel submissions for traditional publishers. Now, several popular traditionally published authors have asked me why I would want a publishing contract. The answer is to get more readers. I would like to lock in a series with preferably Baen, do a book a year for them, maybe two, and spend the rest of the time putting out self pubbed. I think I can make it work to the mutual advantage of the publisher and myself.

I have more series in mind for the future. I love the Exodus series, and it has done very well, but it also shows a lot of the things early on that I didn’t know. I hope to avoid the same mistakes in the future. Still, there will be another Exodus series, starting with the contact with the Ca’cadasans and the flight of humanity, up to the establishment of the Empire. I have several space opera series in mind, a standalone sublight warfare novel, possibly an urban fantasy, some alternate history, and a solar system warfare series. And maybe some military post-apocalyptic stuff. I’m not sure when I’ll do these other projects, or even if I will survive long enough to get all of this out. What I do know is I won’t run out of stuff to do.

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 9: Second Front is now out on Amazon all over the world. To get it in the US go to Amazon at this Link. In the UK go to this Link. It has already sold over a 150 copies in the first twenty-four hours, and looks to be a big success, as were all the prior books in the series. The paperback will be uploaded to Createspace in a couple of days, and should pass their review process several days after. Look for it in the Createspace store right after that, and on Amazon a week or so later. I immediately started work on the next book in the Machine War offshoot series, Bolthole, with already had about 15,000 words written. I hope to have that finished before I go to Dragon Con. If not, then soon after. And then I will be concentrated on a couple of months to write a fantasy submission to Baen, followed by book 10 of the main series. That’s it for this post, as I have a lot of things to do to get that next book out on time.

I will be uploading Exodus: Empires at War: Book 8: Soldiers to Amazon before I go to bed tonight, which means it should be available worldwide sometime before the sun rises Eastern Time. I also approved the audiobook of Exodus: Empires at War: Book 3: Rising Storm, which should be available over Amazon and Audible in the next three or four days. As mentioned in the last post, Exodus 8 will have a combination of ground and space warfare. In fact, it’s almost a fifty-fifty split for the types of action. Samuel Baggett and Cornelius Walborski will again be the main POV characters for the ground action, with the addition of some new characters, while Bryce Suttler and Admiral Len Lenkowski will have roles in space, though other characters will also share the spotlight. I am already at work on Exodus 9: Second Front and have done about fifteen thousand words on Exodus: Machine War; Book 2: Bolthole. I also have the covers in hand for those books. This weekend I will format Exodus 8 for paperback, and it should be available through Amazon and the Createspace store by next week. I don’t sell that many paperbacks, but still do them as a courtesy to fans who prefer that kind of reading experience, or for the infrequent times I do book signings. So here’s an excerpt of the space action, showing that not everything always goes to plan.

One of the missiles that had made it through the close in defensive fire was kicked over by the blast particles and went spinning out of control. Three made it through intact, their sensors scanning for the targets they had been set to look for. Two located the same target, while the third couldn’t find what it was looking for and instead locked onto the largest vessel in the area, an eight million ton assault ship.

The lone missile that homed in on the attack ship almost made it through untouched. The assault ship, the Kharkov, picked up the missile at the last moment. The ship was not equipped for ship to ship offensive operations, but the defensive suite was comparable to that of a heavy cruiser. Short range lasers fired, while the missile juked and swerved, its jamming systems coming up to full power. Close in weapons took over, sending a wave of explosive shells toward the missile. One shell hit the missile body, shredding it, and the warhead followed suit. The weapon detonated five kilometers off the bow of the ship, sending its blast of radiation into that part of the vessel.

The ship shuddered from the breech of its lightly armored hull, and one of the forward hangars blew open, throwing orbit to atmospheric craft out into space, destroying a quarter of the ship’s complement of support craft. Kharkov limped on, trying to get into position to support the people on the surface while streaming atmosphere from multiple hull breaches.

The last two missiles came in on the same target, one of the stealth/attack ships with an attached gate. The ship was almost helpless, unable to bring its own defensive weapons to bear due to the portal being in the way. A battleship was in the process of transiting the gate, the fifteen million ton Queen Elizabeth III. Half of the ship was through, but it was still in no position to defend itself or the gate. Still, the forwardmost laser ring was able to get in a pair of shots. One hit a missile square on the nose from a hundred kilometer range, detonating the missile at a distance from which the radiation load was minimal. The second missile was hit by the stern, causing it to go into a tumble that caused it to detonate a kilometer from the gate.

The battleship would have handled that close a blast with little problem except for some surface damage. The gate itself was much more fragile, and the frame couldn’t handle that heat. Two hundred meters of the outer portion of one frame side boiled away into vapor, destroying the connection that kept the magnetic field operating that held the wormhole open. The wormhole collapsed, shearing through the section of the ship that was still transiting the hole as if it didn’t exist. The forward end of the ship separated from the hole and flew out into space at two kilometers a second. One of the missile magazines had been cut in two, and a warhead breached containment a moment later, causing a gigaton class explosion that ripped through that part of the ship. Thirty more warheads went off in sympathetic detonation, a brilliant flare that blinded every visual sensor for thousands of kilometers around. The safety systems had engaged a microsecond before, sending more warheads out into space sealed in protective cases, their emergency com systems blaring for a pickup by a friendly ship.

The forward section of the Queen Elizabeth III disappeared in a cloud of fast expanding vapor, taking what was left of the gate portal framework and the stealth/attack ship Grampus with it. Fortunately for that area of space, there were not many particles left above the size of a molecule, so all the other vessels in the area were able to weather the blast.

The stern fared no better, and it was much worse on the whole for the surrounding area than that of the front. The wormhole pinch that severed the vessel in half cut through the front section of engineering, where the matter antimatter reactors were housed. Two of the containment vessels were ruptured at the front end, releasing their antiprotons into the region. The forty gigaton blast ripped the rear half of the battleship apart, and the other containment capsules ruptured in the blast, adding their antimatter to the fury, boosting the forty gigaton blast up to three hundred gigatons. Warheads breached containment microseconds later, adding almost two hundred more gigatons to the small star that birthed in the middle of the gathered force that had been waiting for transit.

Later analysis would show how fortunate it was that the rear, antimatter rich section of the ship exploded in that system almost a thousand light years away. If it had gone off thirty thousand kilometers from the inhabited planet, the radiation wave could have killed a hundred million of the humans on that world. As it was, it caused heavy damage to dozens of the nearer vessels, moderate damage to scores more, and lighter hull scaring to hundreds of more. Four thousand crew, beside the five thousand four hundred who had been aboard the battleship, died in the blast, while tens of thousands more were injured.

The worst of it was the destruction of the gate, which should have been allowing all of the ships in this gathering to transit into the battle zone. Now they were separated from the battle area by a thousand light years, with no way to get there in any conceivable time frame that would be helpful to the ship fighting for their lives over New Moscow.

When the forward part of the ship detonated Seastag was sitting two hundred kilometers away. Seastag was far enough from the blast zone that there was little in the way of physical effect, just a slight shake that lasted for less than a second. She was hit by heat and radiation, and warning klaxons went off on the bridge.

“We’re losing magnetic containment on the gate,” called out the Assistant Engineer, his voice panicking. “That radiation wave has disrupted the superconductors.”

“What can you do about it?” asked Suttler, hoping there was something, or the force would have lost half of their gates in minutes.

“I can get a crew out and route new superconductor cable through it. It will take some time, but I think we can save the gate.”

“Odds of the gate collapsing before you fix it?” asked the Commodore as he watched a light cruiser come through the gate, one of the specialized missile defense ships they had been waiting for.

“I really can’t give you better than a good guess,” said the Assistant Engineer, who was in charge of this task while the Chief Engineer handled the engines that were providing power to the gate. “But I would say eighty percent.”

My short story Marathon, part of the Prometheus Saga, a series of stories written by eleven different authors, will be free on Amazon from February 23rd to 27th 2015. The Prometheus Saga follows the progress of an alien probe, made to look human, as it observes humankind through the centuries. Prometheus can become male or female, of every ethnic group, given time. The stories are set from the war between hominid species in the year forty thousand BC, up to modern times.

I set my story at the battle of Marathon, the year 490 BC, when the invading Persians made their first attempt at conquering Greece. The outnumbered Athenians faced them, and despite all the Persian advantages, defeated the invader.

One of the reasons I chose Marathon, besides the fact that it was a conflict between opposing ideologies, of east and west, was the fact that the playwright Aeschylus, the father of modern theater, was in the Athenian army. In those days every able bodied citizen of the democracy came at the call of the city, bringing his own weapons and armor to stand with the others of his people. Aeschylus had fought in several battles prior to this, and was a seasoned warrior. He also wrote the play, Prometheus Unbound, and I was able to weave the Greek legend of the Titan into the story.

If you wanted to sample saga, but didn’t want to put up the $0.99, or burn a free pick from Kindle Prime or Kindle Unlimited, this is your chance. And be sure to check out the offerings of the other talented authors, listed below. And, as always, a review is appreciated.

About The Prometheus Saga

The Prometheus Saga is the premier project of the Alvarium Experiment, a consortium of accomplished and award-winning authors. The Saga spans the range of the existence of Homo sapiens. The stories do not need to be read in any particular order; each story is an entry point into the overall story.

The Prometheus Saga stories & authors are:

“The Pisces Affair” by Daco Auffenorde. CIA operative Jordan Jakes meets Prometheus when the Secretary of State becomes the target of a terrorist attack at a head-of-state dinner in Dubai. Visit Daco at www.authordaco.com.

“On Both Sides” by Bria Burton. When a mysterious woman vanishes during the American Revolution, young Robby Freeman searches for answers from a cryptic sharpshooter who deserted Washington’s Continental Army. Visit Bria at www.briaburton.com.

“Ever After” by M.J. Carlson. Two mysterious women convey the same Cinderella story to Giambattista Basile in 1594 and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1811. How different cultures retell this story reveals humanity’s soul to those who listen. Visit M.J. at www.mjcarlson.com.

“The Blurred Man” by Bard Constantine. FBI agent Dylan Plumm’s investigation of a mill explosion puts her on the trail of the Blurred Man, a mysterious individual who may have been on Earth for centuries. The case turns deadlier at every turn, placing Dylan in the crosshairs of shadowy antagonists even as she unravels a centuries-old mystery. Visit Bard at www.barwritesbooks.com

“Crystal Night” by Charles A. Cornell. Berlin, 1938. On the eve of one of history’s darkest moments, a Swedish bartender working in Nazi Germany accidentally uncovers a woman’s hidden past. Can he avoid becoming an accomplice as the Holocaust accelerates? Visit Charles at www.charlesacornell.com.

“Marathon” by Doug Dandridge. Prometheus, posing as a citizen of Athens, participates in the battle of Marathon alongside the playwright Aeschylus. Visit Doug at www.dougdandridge.net.

“The Strange Case of Lord Byron’s Lover” by Parker Francis. Writing in her journal, Mary Shelley recounts a series of perplexing events during her visit with Lord Byron—a visit that resulted in the creation of her famous Frankenstein novel, but also uncovered a remarkable mystery. Visit Parker at www.parkerfrancis.com.

“Strangers on a Plane” by Kay Kendall. In 1969 during a flight across North America, a young mother traveling with her infant meets an elderly woman who displays unusual powers. But when a catastrophe threatens, are those powers strong enough to avert disaster? This short story folds into Kay’s mystery series featuring the young woman, amateur sleuth Austin Starr. Visit Kay at www.kaykendallauthor.com.

“East of the Sun” by Jade Kerrion. Through a mysterious map depicting far-flung lands, a Chinese sailor in 1424 and a Portuguese cartographer in 1519 share a vision of an Earth far greater than the reality they know. Visit Jade at www.jadekerrion.com.

“Manteo” by Elle Andrews Patt. In 1587, Croatan native Manteo returns from London to Roanoke Island, Virginia. Can he reconcile his strong loyalty to the untamed land and people of his home with his desire for the benefits the colonizing English bring with them before one of them destroys the other? Visit Elle at www.elleandrewspatt.com.

“First World War” by Ken Pelham. 40,000 BC: As the last remaining species of hominid, Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis, fight a desperate battle for ownership of the future, the outcasts of both sides find themselves caught in middle. Visit Ken at www.kenpelham.com.

“Lilith” by Antonio Simon, Jr. In this retelling of the Adam & Eve story, a hermit’s life is turned upside-down by the arrival of a mysterious woman in his camp. As the story of their portentous meeting carries forward through the millennia, only time will tell if Lilith is a heroine, a victim, or a monster. Visit Antonio at www.DarkwaterSyndicate.com.

“Fifteen Dollars’ Guilt” by Antonio Simon, Jr. 1881: After a close brush with death in a steamship disaster, Prometheus encounters another survivor who gripes about how aimless his life has become. Prometheus helps him find his calling, inadvertently setting in motion the assassination of President Garfield. Visit Antonio at www.DarkwaterSyndicate.com.

For additional info about the stories and authors, visit the official website: The Prometheus Saga

Several months ago I was invited to take part in a very unusual collaborative project. Called the Alvarium Experiment, it would feature short stories by over a dozen award winning or best selling authors based on the same premise. The styles of the stories are different, as told by writers of mystery, romance, fantasy and scifi. I told my tale with my normal focus on lots of action, and fans of any of my series will most probably enjoy Marathon. And if you enjoy my tale, you will surely want to check out the other stories in the Saga. The information posted on this blog about authors and stories are from the project pages themselves.

About the Authors:

Bria Burton’s short stories have appeared in anthologies such as Welcome to the Future and speculative fiction magazines such as The Colored Lens. Her novella, Little Angel Helper, was written for her sisters, one of whom has special needs like a character in the story. She also has a collection of family-friendly pet stories called Lance & Ringo Tails. Her epic fantasy manuscript, Livinity, won First Place in the RPLA Unpublished Fantasy Novel category in 2011.

At St. Pete Running Company, she works as a blogger and customer service manager. Find out more about her upcoming and past publications by visiting www.briaburton.com.

Raised in Huntsville, Alabama, Daco is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Romance Writers of America, Author’s Guild, and the Alabama State Bar. She is the author of The Libra Affair (April, 2013), an international spy thriller featuring CIA agent Jordan Jakes. The Libra Affair was an Amazon #1 Bestseller of Suspense, Romantic Suspense, and Romance in September, 2013. The novel was also included in a limited-time only Suspense bundle entitled Racing Hearts: 10 thrilling suspense novels released in July, 2014. The sequel, The Scorpio Affair, will be released soon. Visit Daco at www.authordaco.com, Twitter @AuthorDaco, and her author Facebook page “Daco.”

The Libra Affair is “A complex spy game, rather like a Jason Bourne movie – only instead of the usual male secret agent, we get Jordan Jakes. And she is more than capable of rocking your world.”

Ken Pelham lives and writes in Maitland, Florida. His debut thriller, Brigands Key, won first place in the Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Literary Awards and was published in hardcover in 2012 by Cengage/Five Star Mystery. The ebook edition was released in 2013.

Brigands Key is “. . . a perfect storm of menace . . . breathtaking!”

—The Florida Weekly

His BK prequel, Place of Fear, also a first place winner of the Royal Palm Literary Award, hit the electronic shelves as an ebook in 2013, and the wood shelves in softcover in 2014.

Short stories by Ken, available for e-readers on Amazon.com, include:

Tales of Old Brigands Key

—Three short stories about the sordid and unseemly past of little Brigands Key. Contains “The Light Keeper,” a finalist in the 2014 Royal Palm Literary Awards, and “The Wreck of the Edinburgh Kate,” 2nd-place winner of the Royal Palm for Published Short Story.

Treacherous Bastards: Stories of Suspense, Deceit, and Skullduggery

—Three stories in the Hitchcock tradition, including one about Brigands Key.

A Double Shot of Fright: Two Stories of Horror

—Two chilling short stories guaranteed to cause loss of sleep.

Ken has penned two nonfiction books on the craft of writing: Out of Sight, Out of Mind: A Writer’s Guide to Mastering Viewpoint, and Great Danger: A Writer’s Guide to Building Suspense.

Visit Ken at www.kenpelham.com for updates on his work, and musings on suspense fiction.

Charles A Cornell writes thrillers with a touch of the macabre and pens a unique form of science fiction blended with fantasy and alternative history known as dieselpunk. His awards include the 2012 Royal Palm Literary Award for Best Thriller for Tiger Paw and another RPLA in 2014 in the science fiction category for his illustrated dieselpunk novel DragonFly. He fuels his creativity from inside the chaos of everyday life and you can follow his musings at http://www.CharlesACornell.com. He’s a proud member of the Florida Writers Association and the Alvarium Experiment. ‘Alvarium’ is Latin for beehive. The Alvarium Experiment is a unique collaboration of fourteen authors reinventing the short fiction experience. Their first short fiction collection is The Prometheus Saga.

Doug Dandridge lives in Tallahassee, Florida, and has been a full time independent author for the last two years. His Amazon Best Selling science fiction series, Exodus: Empires at War, has consistently placed in the number one position in Space Opera and Military Science Fiction on Amazon.UK, and in the top five in the same genres on Amazon.US. He is also the author of the Refuge Technothriller/Fantasy series, and The Deep Dark Well Space Opera series. He currently has 23 fiction and one nonfiction book on Amazon, How I Sold 100,000 Books On Amazon, which documents his steps to becoming a successful author. He has also most recently been published in Kevin J. Anderson’s Five By Five 3: Target Zone military scifi anthology. His blog can be found at http://dougdandridge.com, in which he covers his own work,topics of interest to readers and writers, his take on some of the most tiresome tropes in scifi and fantasy. Doug earned a BS in Psychology from Florida State University, and an MA in Clinical Psychology from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.

JADE KERRION is the author of the Double Helix series, which has won eight science fiction awards, including the Gold Medal, Readers Favorites 2013. She writes speculative fiction and contemporary romance novels that aspire to keep you from doing anything else useful with your time.

“The Double Helix is the kind of series you’d expect to see with a movie deal. I loved, loved, LOVED it.”

—Full Time Reader, Amazon Reviewer

“I wish I could award more than 5 stars. This phenomenal series continues to astonish and delight.”

Visit Jade at www.jadekerrion.com for her latest publishing news, events, promotions, and giveaways.

About The Author

Victor DiGenti (aka Parker Francis)

After a career in broadcasting as a producer/director of public affairs programs and award-winning documentaries, and in the special events arena in which he produced the Jacksonville Jazz Festival for eight years, Vic DiGenti turned to his first love—writing. He found inspiration in his household of cats and wrote three award-winning adventure/fantasies with a feline protagonist.

Writing as Parker Francis, Vic made the leap into the hard-boiled mystery/suspense field and has written two award-winning novels in his Quint Mitchell Mystery series, Matanzas Bay and Bring Down the Furies. A third in the series, Hurricane Island, will be released soon. He’s also published the novella, Blue Crabs at Midnight, and the short story collection, Ghostly Whispers, Secret Voices.

Vic is a frequent speaker at libraries, book festivals, and writers’ conferences. He’s taught writing classes at the University of North Florida, and is the FWA Regional Director for NE Florida coordinating 8 writers’ groups, and has served as Co-Director of St. Augustine’s Florida Heritage Book Festival and Writers Conference. He’s also on the Board of the Friends of the Ponte Vedra Library. Visit him at www.parkerfrancis.com

Elle Andrews Patt is a married mother of two unschooled kids now thriving in high school and at university. She is an eclectic and has worked as a certified veterinary technician, event manager, and co-owner of a pizza restaurant, large equestrian boarding, show, and breeding farm, and telecommunications company. Her award-winning speculative and literary short fiction has appeared in markets such as The Rag, Solarcide, and SawPalm, as well as anthologies. She is currently seeking representation for her paranormal murder mystery, Billie Mae, and completing a literary novella. ‘Manteo’, a short story within The Prometheus Saga collection is her first self-publication and a product of her association with The Alvarium Experiment. To read her short fiction and samples of her novel, please visit elleandrewspatt.com Facebook: Elle Andrews Patt, The Prometheus Saga, The Alvarium Experiment Twitter: @LAndrewsPatt

Antonio Simon, Jr.

Antonio Simon, Jr. is a lawyer and award-winning author of several books. His debut novel, “The Gullwing Odyssey”, is a fantasy/comedy adventure and winner of three awards in its first year. In 2014 it won the first-place Royal Palm Literary Award in the category of humor & satire. If nothing else, the book proves that being a lawyer and fostering a sense humor are not mutually exclusive. Mr. Simon is also the author of “R.A.G.E.”, an original roleplaying game system, and “Miami Is Missing”, which delves into Miami’s hidden history. All told, he has written four books, collaborated on two, and published over a dozen short stories.

Mr. Simon holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Miami (Florida), one apiece in the subjects of political science and history, as well as a Juris Doctorate from Saint Thomas University’s School of Law. He lives in Miami, Florida.

Kay Kendall set her debut novel, DESOLATION ROW—AN AUSTIN STARR MYSTERY in 1968. The sequel RAINY DAY WOMEN (June 2015) shows her amateur sleuth Austin Starr proving her best friend didn’t murder women’s liberation activists in Seattle and Vancouver. Both books are published by Stairway Press of Seattle. A fan of historical mysteries, Kay does for the 1960s what novelist Jacqueline Winspear accomplishes for England in the 1930s–she writes atmospheric mysteries that capture the spirit of the age. Kay is also an award-winning international PR executive who earned degrees in Russian history. She lives in Texas with her husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to the bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff too. Visit Kay at http://www.kaykendallauthor.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

Bard Constantine writes gritty futures and far-flung fantasy. His love of those genres catapulted his writing career, which includes the Troubleshooter novels, featuring the private eye of a dystopian future. Other novels include the horror/sci-fi novel The Aberration, and Shadow Battles, a recently released epic fantasy series. A huge fan of edgy, fast-paced television shows, Bard paces his stories in a similar fashion, keeping his readers hanging on from chapter to chapter. Bard lives in Birmingham, Al with his wife and unbridled imagination. Keep up with his work at http://bardwritesbooks.com and at Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bardwritesbooks

And, the stories, with links to their Amazon sales pages:

“The Pisces Affair” by Daco Auffenorde. CIA operative Jordan Jakes meets Prometheus when the Secretary of State becomes the target of a terrorist attack at a head-of-state dinner in Dubai. Visit Daco at http://www.authordaco.com.

“On Both Sides” by Bria Burton. When a mysterious woman vanishes during the American Revolution, young Robby Freeman searches for answers from a cryptic sharpshooter who deserted Washington’s Continental Army. Visit Bria at http://www.briaburton.com.

“Ever After” by M.J. Carlson. Two mysterious women convey the same Cinderella story to Giambattista Basile in 1594 and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1811. How different cultures retell this story reveals humanity’s soul to those who listen. Visit M.J. at http://www.mjcarlson.com.

“The Blurred Man” by Bard Constantine. FBI agent Dylan Plumm’s investigation of a mill explosion puts her on the trail of the Blurred Man, a mysterious individual who may have been on Earth for centuries. The case turns deadlier at every turn, placing Dylan in the crosshairs of shadowy antagonists even as she unravels a centuries-old mystery. Visit Bard at http://www.bardwritesbooks.com

“Crystal Night” by Charles A. Cornell. Berlin, 1938. On the eve of one of history’s darkest moments, a Swedish bartender working in Nazi Germany accidentally uncovers a woman’s hidden past. Can he avoid becoming an accomplice as the Holocaust accelerates? Visit Charles at http://www.charlesacornell.com.

“Marathon” by Doug Dandridge. Prometheus, posing as a citizen of Athens, participates in the battle of Marathon alongside the playwright Aeschylus. Visit Doug at http://www.dougdandridge.net.

“Strangers on a Plane” by Kay Kendall. In 1969 during a flight across North America, a young mother traveling with her infant meets an elderly woman who displays unusual powers. But when a catastrophe threatens, are those powers strong enough to avert disaster? This short story folds into Kay’s mystery series featuring the young woman, amateur sleuth Austin Starr. Visit Kay at http://www.kaykendallauthor.com.

“East of the Sun” by Jade Kerrion. Through a mysterious map depicting far-flung lands, a Chinese sailor in 1424 and a Portuguese cartographer in 1519 share a vision of an Earth far greater than the reality they know. Visit Jade at http://www.jadekerrion.com.

“Manteo” by Elle Andrews Patt. In 1587, Croatan native Manteo returns from London to Roanoke Island, Virginia. Can he reconcile his strong loyalty to the untamed land and people of his home with his desire for the benefits the colonizing English bring with them before one of them destroys the other? Visit Elle at http://www.elleandrewspatt.com.

“First World War” by Ken Pelham. 40,000 BC: As the last remaining species of hominid, Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis, fight a desperate battle for ownership of the future, the outcasts of both sides find themselves caught in middle. Visit Ken at http://www.kenpelham.com.

“Lilith” by Antonio Simon, Jr. In this retelling of the Adam & Eve story, a hermit’s life is turned upside-down by the arrival of a mysterious woman in his camp. As the story of their portentous meeting carries forward through the millennia, only time will tell if Lilith is a heroine, a victim, or a monster. Visit Antonio at http://www.DarkwaterSyndicate.com.

“Fifteen Dollars’ Guilt” by Antonio Simon, Jr. 1881: After a close brush with death in a steamship disaster, Prometheus encounters another survivor who gripes about how aimless his life has become. Prometheus helps him find his calling, inadvertently setting in motion the assassination of President Garfield. Visit Antonio at http://www.DarkwaterSyndicate.com.

For additional info about the stories and authors, visit the official website: The Prometheus Saga

The Prometheus Saga promises to be a unique experience for readers, and the same main character is followed for thousands of years through the craft of many different writers. The series can be entered at any point, as all of the stories are stand alone. There may be more in the future; that had yet to be determined. So give the series a try, and, as always, reviews are welcome.